towerofanimus | Ad Visitatores

Ad Visitatores

Characters: anyone participating in the event
Setting: floor 56 and eventually other areas of the Tower
Format: either
Summary: Welcome to the Tower.
Warnings: horror/creepiness/potential danger/generally unfortunate things all possible
Notes: PLEASE GO HERE TO MAKE NEW POSTS.

A few minutes before anything happens, Ruana's voice rings out over the Tower's intercom--it manages to be louder than anything the residents happen to be doing. "Hey, everyone, there's something exciting going on at floor fifty-six! Go make sure they don't get themselves killed!"

You arrive, stepping or tumbling, in a surgical suite. It looks abandoned, with dust collecting on the table and floors. The lights flicker, and for a moment blood dripping off the table, puddling on the floor--but no, the lights are back, and surely that was your imagination. It's quiet, eerily so, but nothing hinders you, and you're free to spread out and explore. There are multiple rooms here, like in any hospital, and it's all a bit confusing. Occasionally the lights flicker, and it's a bit frightening as Things appear that shouldn't exist. Shadowy creatures stitched together and reaching for you, doctors brandishing phantom surgical tools, blood splattering the walls or floor or ceiling, how did it get there--but none are real, and all of them vanish when the lights return. Eventually you find the staircase, spiraling up and down into darkness. Approach it, though, and the thing glitters with a barrier that will push back any attempts at climbing the thing.

A girl, a teenager dressed in red and black, appears. And she does simply appear, inserting herself into the space, nearly pushing it aside to make room in it for where she is now. Her face beams with unconcealed excitement, and her words tumble out on top of themselves. "You can't go there! Yet, I mean. You'd all die!"

The girl steps onto the staircase, passing through the barrier as if it weren't there, and sits on the steps to address everyone. "Hi! I'm Ruana. You didn't show up the normal way, so the Tower can't support you yet. We got this one floor ready when I saw you were coming but, well, the Tower's kind've big, so getting all of them set up is taking a little longer than I thought." She smiles, sheepishly apologetic in a carefree sort of way. "I've got everyone coming here to visit you--or at least they know they can visit you--and I'll have someone bring food up for you. It'll be oatmeal, and oatmeal is super boring, but you have to eat it, okay? Then you can have whatever you want! The cafeteria's down on the first floor if you get hungry. We should have everything ready in a few hours. I've gotta go help with that, so you guys wait here.

"Don't worry, the monsters can't get to this floor as long as that barrier is up."

And then she's gone, blinking out of existence. The barrier will remain for three hours.

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[... that's. ... Less he has to hide from her. A fair bit less. There's a slow easing of his posture as the relief sinks in.] ... It's been twice that length for me. A lot's happened, even before I showed up here.

[Twice that length, but they're essentially on the same page. He doesn't have much to catch her up on. He just wishes he didn't have to... explain Xemnas.

There's a very small, nostalgic smile forming.] You always could read me like a book... how could I have forgotten about that?

[Well. Finally lowering the hood hiding his face. He doesn't look like he's aged beyond maybe a year or so, and he's in need of a haircut. But while his appearance hasn't changed much, his heart... has.

It feels like at one point, it was shattered, and it's only now nearly recovered the strength it had that day they took their Mark of Mastery exam. There's more Darkness, but it isn't buried under his Light, or even fighting to get out. It's more controlled, more... settled. Stiller.

But the most notable thing about that Darkness, is that it's all his. Not a trace of Xehanort remains.

That small smile that formed hasn't left his face, at least. If anything, he looks... almost amused. His expression is a little harder to read.] I don't think I could explain it all at once, even if I wanted to.

[Aqua smiled faintly. Somehow, she wasn't surprised by that information. Maybe because she's so used to things being different or due to her being farther along than her friends no matter the timeline. Finally meeting a Terra from their future... she's almost amused.

She knew of Xemnas before, thanks to Axel, and maybe if his name is mentioned he'd notice the flicker of recognition, but until then, she's going to be distracted for a moment when that hood falls.

Because it doesn't look like he changed at all on the surface, but she can see his aura--his light and darkness--the moment he reveals his face. She doesn't even realize her mouth fell open slightly, seeing the difference; the scars on his Heart from where it was shattered. How his Darkness seems calmed, his Light so much stronger...

Just as she once thought it could be, even though he'd been broken before.

... Aqua smiles faintly, a bit of pride and concern shining in her eyes.]

We'll be here for a while, Terra. [And while it's obvious she wants to know what happened, she keeps herself from voicing it just now. There's, unfortunately, business that needs to be discussed first; for all their sakes.] We can share stories soon enough. Did any of the others mention why we're here?

[He waits for her reaction to what he knows she can now detect, and makes note of the little changes in her expression. The surprise, followed by the look in her eyes...

The concern is easily noted. The pride... what had she seen, to cause that?

When she finishes talking, he nods. However long that 'while' might be, it should be long enough for them both to swap stories.] All right; we should have plenty of time for that.

[Ah... well. There went his smile.] I ran into Naminé and Kairi earlier; they mentioned you had been 'sent' here for something. It's why none of the people from that Hinoto-Ri place have collars like the Tower residents.

[His gaze finally flickers down to the bandages just visible under her sleeves, and he frowns, mild concern entering his eyes. That... must be new.]

[A light she hasn't seen in a long time; that's what. Though, she will eventually say that later. Right now, she's closing the distance as she nods.]

Mm... Another being who came here before us, more than likely. [It's funny how her smile doesn't waver, because she knows if she survived the blast not even a month ago, then she could survive this place. Though, she caught that glance.] ...I'm fine, Terra. The doctors back in Hinoto-Ri are bigger worrywarts than I am.

[Hm... a hunt, then.] I'll try to keep my senses open for anything out of the ordinary.

[That doesn't guarantee anything, considering the nature of the tower, but it was better than sitting around waiting for something to happen.

... he's raising an eyebrow, crossing his arms, and looking skeptical.] If you say so.

[He won't ask. He knows how you are about trying to keep people from worrying. But he knows that any injury in the tower is a bad thing, no matter how minor. A very subtle gesture--a simple flick of his fingers--is the only thing that betrays his casting of Curaga.]

Thank you. [Definitely a hunt. Right up their alley, isn't it.

...Still, she sees that quirked eyebrow and the arm crossing. Terra. Terra plz. You know she can read you like an open book and knows you don't believe her. That Curaga, too? she knows your magic.

If there was any face he likely wasn't sure he'd see again, it's her lineface.]

...I keep forgetting you worry even more than me.

[It brings back all sorts of memories, pleasant and otherwise. Mostly otherwise.

He's just going to shrug slightly, and... that's a sad smile.] Of course I do. You're family.

[Pause. ... when he talks again, his speech pattern has... changed. Slower, more formal.] As the only resident Master in the Tower, it is my duty to worry about those from our collective set of worlds--visiting or otherwise.

[Did you just hear him right?]

[At least it wasn't the first accidental Transcendence Incident...]

Yeah, s-

[...?!]

[HOLD UP.]

[waaaaaait a minute!]

[~~put a little love in it OK NO~~ Did he just-?]

[snnrrrrrrrrrrrk-!]

[And once she calms down, it's almost like she flipped of the switch from "amused little sister" to "srs master mode."]

Then I am sure that Master Riku will be able to hold down the fort back in the world we have ventured from in the meantime.

[Wait, did you hear her right?]

[Well. That was an interesting (and highly amusing) chain of expressions. The almost laughter from Aqua brings a look of amusement to Terra's own face, and then some laughter of his own.

'Good to know I can still make her laugh.' He kind of hoped he'd be able to keep it up as the month continued--]

[Wait.

She just said--

He stops laughing and blinks, surprise replacing amusement as her statement sinks in. 'Master' Riku? There was a Riku in this Hinoto-Ri place, and he was a Master?

... ... there is no faking the pride in his eyes.

'I knew he would do it.'] I'm sure he will; despite what he thinks, he has a good head on his shoulders.

[Faith in his apprentice, he has it.]

[Yes. Yes, she did and she smiles as that little bit of information sinks in.It's what awaits Riku's future, outside of this place ~~when everything has been made right again~~.

Aqua nods faintly, silently removing the bandages from under her sleeves and burning them into a fine ash once they are away from her skin.]

So am I. [She can second it, because he's almost like a nephew in her eyes back in that other world. Though here... Well, she'll at least try to help him see she isn't like she was in the past.

...You're going to have to fill her in on this place, Terra.]

[Fill her in... well. That, he can do.

Serious Master Mode is now active.] If you were sent here hunting an unknown power, you should know what kind of place that power has chosen to hide in.

[That phrasing is... odd. More formal than Terra normally goes, but not formal enough for him to be imitating anyone. It's just enough that he thinks it'll drive home the point-- 'this is serious; please listen.'

He tells her everything he can. The note: 'Your world has been destroyed. I saved you. Please be happy here.' The collars, meant to allow anyone 'saved' to keep living, and how removal meant certain death. The floors, each with some hidden danger. The administrators, how the main four rotated controlling of the tower each month. How you could tell who was running the tower and how bad a month it would be based on the food in the cafeteria. Ruana would 'play games', and everyone would be left mentally scarred. Jason, who was just as bad in his own way, with experiments that altered them in some way every time he was in charge. How it was generally agreed that Dax months were the most bearable, and Riki...

Well. He didn't have enough info on Riki.

How mutated monsters roamed the floors and hallways after dark, and how some of the floors kept those with magic or other abilities from using them, rendering them just as vulnerable as any normal human.

He finally stops, and just... silently waits for her to take everything in.

And he hopes it wasn't too much to take in at once. But... she needed to know. Her apprentice needed to know. Before they wound up dead.

He didn't know if they would resurrect like those trapped in the Tower. And he didn't want to risk it.]

[...she knew that tone, though the phrasing was different for her brother. Something told her it was likely a good idea for her to sit down as she listened. Which she did, trying to ignore what else was around them as she focused on his words.

What they had to wake up to at the beginning, what they were subjected to... It made her stomach churn, and she's fairly sure that her knuckles have turned white at some point even as she otherwise remained calm. Much like she had in learning what the future held in store for them in one timeline, she took in the information that was crucial and committed it to memory. One hundred floors...?]

No wonder she couldn't see all of it...

[What could she be muttering about? Who knew, at least for now she had something to go on for their new location.She nods, as if saying she understood.]

Thank you for telling me; I'll make sure the others know.

[At least now, she can tell everyone a few places for possible rendezvous points.]

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Ad Visitatores

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